Anna opened her eyes and then immediately squeezed them shut again to avoid being blinded by bright lights. The harsh smell of cleaning products invaded her sinuses and she rolled to her side, burying her face in a starchy pillowcase.
"Anna." a familiar voice said. "Honey, are you feeling sick again?"
Anna tried to decide whether she was feeling sick again. She didn't think so. She tried to figure out where she was. She didn't know. She tried to identify the voice.
"Claudia." Her voice sounded strange to her own ears; raspy and weak.
"Yeah honey, it's me. Grant called me."
Grant. "Grant! Where is he?" Anna tried to sit up and felt like someone had knocked her in the head with a frying pan. Everything went blessedly dark once more.
When she opened her eyes again, a nurse was bustling around the room and Claudia was sitting on the bed with her, wiping her face with a cool cloth. They'd lifted the top part of the bed so she was in a semi-upright position and could see the room better.
"I'm in the hospital," she croaked.
"Yes. Do you remember what happened?"
Anna tried to think. She'd gone to see Grant; to apologize and...she blushed as she remembered what they'd done on his couch, but that didn't explain why she was in a hospital. "There was...a door? I don't know," she said, getting frustrated. "I can't remember. Please just tell me if Grant's okay."
"Of course he is, hon. He's fine. He's talking to the police right now."
Anna's eye shot wide, but she caught herself before sitting up this time. "Is he in trouble?"
"No, he's just giving them a statement."
"Am I okay? Why am I here?" She directed the question at the nurse.
"Yes ma'am, you're gonna be just fine. Someone put a strong sedative in your drink. Probably Rohypnol, but we won't know for sure until we get the lab report back. Fortunately we didn't have to pump your stomach because you pretty much emptied it out on your own. And you have a few bruises, but nothing too bad."
"I don't remember anything," she said shaking her head slowly. "Can you tell me what happened, Claud?"
"I don't really know all the details, Anna. You should talk to someone who was there. Grant will be back soon."
Anna nodded. She wanted to see Grant; needed to see him. She put her hand to her face to push her hair back and winced in pain. Prodding her cheek gingerly with her fingers, she felt the extent of the bruise. It wasn't too bad unless she tried to open her mouth wide.
The door opened and Anna looked up to see Grant and Corie walk in the room along with two uniformed police officers. She sat up a little straighter and tried to brush her hair back into a ponytail with her fingers.
"Miss Webster?" one of the officers asked. He was very tall and broad-chested, a good looking guy with cheerful blue eyes that looked at her with concern.
"Yes." Anna was trying to make eye contact with Grant, but his eyes were locked on the floor. He seemed unnaturally calm, leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed over his chest, the only sign of stress the tight fists he had stuck under his arms.
"I'm Officer Cooper, this is Officer Standen. We won't bother you too much tonight ma'am, but we need to ask you a few questions."
"Okay. I'll try to answer." She was having a hard time concentrating on what the man was saying. Her mind still felt foggy and she was wondering why Grant wouldn't look at her.
"The questions are of a sensitive nature, we can have everyone else leave first if-"
"No, it's okay. I want them here."
"Are you sure ma'am?"
"Yes," she said, confused about why on earth she would want her friends to leave. They knew better than her what had happened tonight.
"Alright," he said, clearing his throat.
"Do you know the man that you left the club with tonight?" the other officer asked. He was an older man with graying hair and a no-nonsense attitude, but his interruption earned him a glare from his younger, taller counterpart.
Anna snapped to full attention. "I left with someone? I don't- I can't-" Suddenly the potential implications of having been drugged began to dawn on her and she instinctively drew the sheet up to her chest, clenching it tightly in her fists.
"It's okay if you don't remember, ma'am. Just say that."
Anna couldn't speak for a moment, paralyzed by the realization that she might have been raped. Her eyes darted from face to face, looking for the answer to a question that she was afraid to ask out loud. The only person whose eye she could catch was Corie, who looked directly at her and almost imperceptibly shook her head no. She took a deep breath, reassured, and focused back on the cop.
"I don't remember, but I wouldn't have left with anyone even if I knew them. I was waiting for Grant," she said, glancing at his face for some sign of acknowledgement. He didn't look up at her, but she saw him wince. Surely he didn't think she would have voluntarily left with someone else. Is that why he wasn't looking at her?
"Right." The cop said and she looked up at the odd tone to his voice. "Have you had unprotected sexual intercourse in the last twenty-four hours?"
Her eyes flew automatically back to Grant, who looked intensely uncomfortable, his jaw muscles working furiously as he stared hard at the floor. "I, um- why do you need to know that?" she asked, blushing feverishly. For a moment she wondered if she should lie, unsure whether she would be getting Grant in trouble, but quickly realized how silly the thought was. It wasn't illegal for them to have sex.
The younger officer cleared his throat again and stepped forward as he spoke to her in a lowered voice. "The doctor ran a rape kit when you first arrived. You were conscious at the time, though you may not remember. There were quite a few minor vaginal lacerations and the lab came back positive for semen, but only from one donor and no spermicide or lubricant from a condom. If you had voluntary intercourse recently we can be reasonably sure you weren't raped."
"Oh." She swallowed hard. "Yeah. I did, yes."
"Okay. That's not conclusive, you understand, so you'll need to talk to the doctors about taking the same measures you would have if you were raped, do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Yes," she whispered. She knew she wasn't ovulating, she had always been regular and had been tracking her fertility carefully since she started sleeping with Grant so pregnancy wasn't a concern, but she would have to get tested for diseases just in case. Claudia's hand squeezed hers hard and she was grateful for it, but she couldn't help wishing it was Grant sitting next to her offering her some kind of comfort. Her eyes stayed locked on his lowered head, afraid she'd miss the slightest glance from him if she looked away.
"Alright. Now, did you voluntarily take any prescription or street drugs tonight?"